Declaring that now is as good a time as any to invest in junior companies, a trio of high profile newsletter writers invited subscribers to a recent Vancouver conference that focused on two of North America’s hottest exploration areas, Mexico and the Canadian Yukon.
“We wanted to provide a service to subscribers by giving them face time with companies that at least one of us follows, and which we think have big potential,’’ said Lawrence Roulston, publisher of the Resource Opportunities newsletter.
He was joined at the event by fellow newsletter writers Keith Schaefer (The Oil & Gas Investments Bulletin) and Eric Coffin (HRA Hard Rock Analyst).
What follows is a report on two companies that were featured at the subscriber conference.
Comstock Metals Ltd. (TSX: V.CSL, Stock Forum), a company that is active in both the Yukon and Mexico, has seen its stock price jump to 60 cents in recent weeks from around 12 cents in early July.
Trading at 47 cents on Friday, Comstock has a market cap of $30.11 million, based on 64 million shares outstanding. The 52-week range is 60 cents and 9 cents.
In the Yukon, Comstock’s QV project is located in the White Gold district, the site of a 2010 exploration rush that attracted roughly 140 mining companies into a region that is located about 90 kilometres south of Dawson City and the Klondike Gold Rush.
Covering 10,374 hectares, QV is situated to the northwest of Kinross Gold Corp.’s (TSX: T.K, Stock Forum) Golden Saddle project, and has already yielded some of the best trenching results in the White Gold District, including 3.31 grams per tonne gold over 95 metres, company officials say.
President and Chief Executive Officer Rasool Mohammed predicted that if Comstock can outline 750,000 ounces of gold at QV, his company could become a target for Kinross.
On September 24, the company said it has completed an 8-core hole drill program that aimed to test strong gold enrichment discovered in trenches on the VG Zone. The company said results will be available soon.
In Mexico, Comstock is also exploring on the Corona gold silver project, located in the Ocampo region of western Chihuahua, a prolific belt for gold and silver mining. Having earned a 60% interest, Comstock can increase its stake to 75% by taking the project to the bankable feasibility stage.
Corona is located in the vicinity of Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.’s (TSX: T.AEM, Stock Forum) (NYSE: AEM, Stock Forum) Pinos Altos mine to the north, and Fresnillo PLC’s 9.2 million-ounce Orisyvo gold deposit, which has alerted a number of exploration firms, including Comstock.
A 12-hole drill program completed in March, intersected porphyry-style gold mineralization, including 34.5 metres of 0.36 grams per tonne gold.
International Northair Mines Ltd. (TSX: V.INM, Stock Forum) is focusing on gold-silver properties in Mexico, including the La Cigarra silver project in the Parral Silver District in north central Mexico, which has produced about 1.7 billion ounces of silver.
Trading at 35 cents, International Northair has a market cap of $31 million, based on 91.3 million shares outstanding. The 52-week range is 42 cents and 18 cents.
Back in late March, 2012, Michael Fowler of Loewen, Ondaatje, McCutcheon Ltd. predicted that International Northair would eventually outline a 70 million ounce silver resource on the La Cigarra property. However, efforts to complete an initial resource estimate have been delayed until the fourth quarter due to ongoing infill drilling on the San Gregario zone.
International Northair is sitting with $6 million in working capital after completing a non brokered private placement in early July for $6.1 million, priced at 28 cents a share. Approximately half of this amount was purchased by Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. (TSX: T.CDM, Stock Forum), which now owns 10.75 million shares or 13% of the company.